


a whiff of something you once knew

by faedemon



Series: faedemon's Ectober Week 2020 [6]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Drabble, Ectober (Danny Phantom), Ectober Week 2020 (Danny Phantom), Gen, Internal Monologue, mentions of triggers, past trauma, portal accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faedemon/pseuds/faedemon
Summary: Danny feels stupid admitting it, but it feels like home. In the same way catching a whiff of his mother’s perfume does, seeing the otherworldly eminence of glow sticks feels like an old memory getting a grip on you, dragging you back to your origins.
Series: faedemon's Ectober Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985162
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	a whiff of something you once knew

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Ectober Week 2020 Day 6: **Glowsticks** /Redrum and can be found crossposted on [FFN](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13732823/1/a-whiff-of-something-you-once-knew) and on [Tumblr](https://moipale.tumblr.com/post/633442455894786048/a-whiff-of-something-you-once-knew).

Danny tries to avoid certain things post-accident.

Electricity, for one—he doesn’t like to plug in Jazz’s hair dryer or curling iron, and he doesn’t wear socks on the carpet anymore, and he’s taken to bringing candles up to his room to avoid turning on the light. It’s nice practice, anyway; he’s gotten very good at heating his ectoplasm enough light the wicks.

He also doesn’t like to eat gelatin anymore; it reminds him too much of the consistency of live ectoplasm. And he won’t wear a lot of black anymore, and he hasn’t watched Ghostbusters since his change.

And, most peculiarly of all, he tries not to look at glow sticks for too long.

Jazz would call most of those things trauma-related, if Danny were brave enough to confide in her about it. But that last thing… it’s just different.

He doesn’t _dislike_ glowsticks, as with all the other things. Quite to the contrary, actually; Danny probably—definitely—likes them _too_ much.

There are some things he’s noticed that are undeniably pleasing to his more ghostly instincts. Phantom likes the dark, and in the moments Danny accidentally sneaks up on someone and spooks them, Phantom gets a hint of mischievous satisfaction. And apparently, bizarrely, Phantom really likes glow sticks.

It’s something about their glow that… well, Danny feels stupid admitting it, but it feels like home. In the same way catching a whiff of his mother’s perfume does, seeing the otherworldly eminence of glow sticks feels like an old memory getting a grip on you, dragging you back to your origins.

Danny wonders sometimes if the ectoplasm his body now houses used to belong to something else. Did another, lesser ghost happen to wander into the exact spot the portal opened on? Did Danny’s consciousness rewrite it? It might explain these moments, this overwhelming ache for _home_.

It might make the relief he feels when he goes into the Zone less scary.

**Author's Note:**

> hiya! sorry i don't have anything more substantial for today. i would like to expand on this idea, but right now i don't have the oomph i need to get it there. so take this little drabble! if you liked it, please leave a comment <3
> 
> if you want to chat, you can find me on tumblr at my main blog [faedemon](https://faedemon.tumblr.com/) or my sideblog [moipale](https://moipale.tumblr.com/)!!


End file.
